Satan Attacks on Saturdays

Saturday nights more specifically. Seriously. If the kids are going to get sick or have an extremely rough night, or if one of us adults are not going to feel good, it's going to happen during Saturday night so that we cannot go to church on Sunday. In fact, I've become so aware of it lately, that I've started praying out loud that all evil will leave our house before we go to bed Saturday night. However... sure enough. AJ has this cold that's not terrible, but bad enough for us to have a rough night and to not think he should go in the nursery today. And I got a painful plugged milk duct last night that I've been trying to relieve all day. So, we missed another Sunday of church. Then he attacked again, by putting me in crummy mood. I was actually pretty bummed this morning about missing church. I mean as a stay at home mom... I don't go out and see other adults all that much. So church, even though it really is wonderful in and of itself, is more than just church. It's a chance to wear makeup, to talk to other grown-ups, to get out of the house, etc... Plus, I just feel out of the loop with the ongoings of church. Se la vi.

I did however, head out a bit on my own today. Got a coffee, hit Micheals for after Christmas sales, and did some grocery shopping at Aldis & Meijer.

Tonight, New Year's Eve, we are not doing anything other than staying in. And my extremely social hubby is going insane. The travisty of staying home on New Year's Eve is a bit more than he can take. But all of our friends are out of town or have sick kids. Plus, we have our own health issues that we shouldn't be speading to others. It's pathetic, but I may not even make it until midnight. 'Tis the season of life. We did try to have a least a decent dinner. We had a nice roast dinner, then yesterday I made an ice cream roll-up cake with homemade hot fudge icing for dessert tonight. (It actually sounds better than it was - but it was my first attempt). When the kids are older, we'll have to party hard to make up for these sub par celebrations.

Be careful tonight and have a great New Year's Eve.

I can't complain.

Now that I am not working, it's easy for me to lose track of what day it is. However, Marc had today off due to a floating holiday and it's felt like Saturday all day. I keep thinking I need to pull stuff together for church tomorrow.

We had a nice week. Nothing exceptionally exciting happened. Little grocery shopping, little house cleaning, little napping, little cooking... getting back into our little ol' schedules. The boys have had slight colds - nothing terrible. I think AJ is also teething - so couple that with a dripping nose and he's been happy only 90% of the time and not his usual 98%. He's not sleeping all that great, but what else is new? He did, however, figure out how to pull himself up onto things a couple times today and the look on his face said, "World Hunger? Global Warming? BRING IT ON!"

The boys aren't the only ones with maladies. I burnt my right thumb and index finger last night on what I found out was a non-microwavable mug (amazing what 30 seconds can do - and my milk was still cold). So I slept holding on to an ice pack last night. And y'know - a right handed person does an awful lot of things with their right thumb and index finger. Thankfully, the pain is now gone, the fingers are just cracked and crusty. Sorry for the lovely word picture. I also have a slight ailment on my leg. Not sure what yet and neither did my doc. (We layman thought it was bug bites that wouldn't go away - but doc said "no"). So I am on a couple meds for "just in case" scenerios. I just spent the last hour researching the meds before I would take them since I am still nursing AJ. Yes, I asked my doctor about it - but he wasn't real convincing and... well, I wanted to decide for myself. I am not thrilled about taking them. I guess I am supposed to find out what my "bites" are sometime next week-ish.

Tomorrow, I think we are going to try to get some projects done around the house and take our Christmas decor down. It will be nice to free up a little space. Especially now that Santa brought us large Christmas toys.

Ya' know. I was upstairs calming AJ just about an hour ago (Marc is up there now - I told you he wasn't sleeping well) and Andrew was in bed, not yet sleeping, and I was thinking. My life is pretty perfect. I've got two great kids, a terrific hubby, a supportive family and a warm home. Colds, burnt fingers, sleepless nights, itchy legs... BRING IT ON.

Christmas Jammies

Some Christmas Treats

All that work - and AJ just wants to chew on the box.

Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus.

Someone got safety scissors for Christmas.

Merry belated Christmas

I hope you all had a truly wonderful day. We did. We actually had a pretty nice entire weekend. We went to Ohio to see my parents and have several Christmas(es) with different sides of the family. I feel like I could write a novel about everything that we did and how the boys did, etc... but I am tired after getting home late last night and “undigging” today so I will make this brief. The boys did incredible - especially considering that schedules were thrown out of whack. There were two days in a row that AJ (yes, the baby) only got one nap each day. And he was an angel. They both struggled a bit at night - but nothing I can complain too much about. Of course, they could wake up Grandma and Papa early in the morning and let us sleep a bit. Both boys got many wonderful gifts. So far the favorites seem to be (Andrew) a roll up racetrack for Matchbox cars and (AJ) a super soft Build-A-Bear.

As you could see in the video below, Andrew is aware of this Santa character this year. So we were expecting Santa to play a bigger role in Andrew's Christmas than he did. We did lay out cookies and milk the night before, but in the morning, Andrew kind of forgot all about Santa.

Get this - I actually dreamt the night before Christmas that some faceless authority figure was scolding me for 'pushing' Santa on a two year old when Christmas is really all about Jesus' birthday. I even woke up feeling guilty. I am not anti-Santa, but it definitely made me think. However, before opening gifts, we did stick a candle in a cookie and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus after reading the Christmas Story (Luke chapter 2).

We really did have a nice Christmas – I hope you did to. I will work on posting pictures soon.

Santa Explained

A must have in a house with a rowdy boy.

The Boo Boo Bunny

Love it...

...when you repeatedly have to move your 8 month old so he doesn't chew on the Christmas lights.

My Favorite Christmas Memory.

When I was around 12, somehow I was able to get out with some money and buy myself an outfit that I really wanted without anyone knowing about it. Then I took it home, wrapped it in Christmas paper, switched tags with a gift for me already under the tree and waited.

On Christmas morning, I opened my outfit. With all the excitement I could muster, I gushed on and on about how great the outfit was, and how I love it, and thank you, thank you, etc…

You should have seen my parent’s faces - each sneaking looks at each other with whispers, "Did you buy that for her?" "No, didn't you?" My Gram was there and I know she got those perplexing looks as well. They even checked the tag to see who it was from, but staring back at my mom was her own handwriting that said, "To Kelli, from Santa".

I couldn't hold up the charade too much longer before I burst out laughing. But I think, for just a moment, my parents really did believe in Santa.

That's my favorite Christmas Memory - what's yours?

He Moves!

I proved it today.

AJ's been pivoting on the tummy for quite a while. But lately he's been getting places.. slowly. So slowly in fact, we never really caught him moving. It was more of a gradual fluke and if left long enough he would somehow back himself under the table.

But a day or two ago, Marc said he saw a distinct army crawl. One with purpose (there was a red matchbox car just out of reach). So today, I tested him. He was playing happily on the floor and I lined up a trail of Cheerios on the floor about 10 inches apart. At the end of 3-4 Cheerios, I laid on my tummy and encouraged him to come get me. Sure enough - stopping long enough to eat each cheerio, AJ army crawled to me. Fortunatly, at this point he is still pretty slow, but I bet by the new year, it will be time to break out the baby gates.

Shiny & Clean

Well, what have I been up to besides compaining about birthday cake or prime time television? Well, my birthday was really nice. We got a sitter, did dinner out and stopped by some friend's house to visit and share my cake. (Ironically - my friend we shared my cake with is named Kelly - with a "y"). Other than that - we really (and I mean really) haven't done much. We stayed in almost the entire weekend. Barely worked around the house and just kinda vegged. Athough I am paying for it now - playing catch up.

Today was a busier one. We ran out and finished Christmas/grocery shopping this morning and stopped by the mall to let Andrew run a bit in their play area. Three stops total. However, due to the holiday vehicle and human traffic, our three stops took 3 hours. The poor kids were knocked clean off their schedules. Over all they did well - but both were grumpy for a while after late naps . I am coming down with a cold - so while I got some done this evening, I don't feel like I made a dent in my 'list'. Although the boys did get tubs so they are 'shiny and clean - shiny and clean' (from Thomas the Tank) and cute as ever!

"Identity"

Marc is gone for Monday night football, the boys are in bed, so I am in front of the tube with my laptop avoiding the mountain high list of the things I should be doing such as cleaning up my kitchen, finishing Christmas projects, wrapping gifts, folding clothes, etc...

Instead, I started watching an incredibly lame show called Identity. Penn's hand guesture are so redundant it's embarassing and the overuse of dramatic pauses (to where they aren't dramatic anymore at all) is irritating. I made it a whole 8 minutes into the show before looking for something better. Maybe I didn't give it a fighting chance - but it stinks that this show will be on all week. I guess I look for yet another rerun of Friends while I finish paying bills.

How to frustrate Marc...

Mispell the birthday girl's name on the cake he especially ordered for her, after repeating the spelling back to him several times.

Twenty Nine and holding...

Yesterday was a weird day. It was Bible Study day, which means that it started out in a state of craziness. The study itself was a really nice beautiful brunch. But again, by the time I got the boys home – they were at their end. I fed them a quick lunch and put them both down for a nap – where they both (yes, both) slept for THREE hours! In fact, I laid down with Andrew and crashed for two hours. I can’t tell you when or if that’s ever happened before. Man, it was nice (and much needed).

However, other than general pick-up and dinner (homemade pizza), I don’t feel like I got much done yesterday. Marc spent a good portion of the evening at the hospital visiting our friend and of course an hour long The Office was on last night.

Oh!, and I did receive my “First Place Christmas Card” yesterday – thank you!

Today is my birthday – my very last birthday ever – and we will be celebrating by getting a sitter tonight and going out to dinner at our usual birthday restaurant. We may even take advantage of the sitter and finish our Christmas shopping.

Other than that – today is a regular day. Laundry needs to be done, kids need to be fed, etc… Have a great weekend.

Beware - Splash Guard Needed

AJ has discovered the art of blowing raspberries and it's become his full time job.

What if all your food came out of the freezer in the shape of an ice cube?

Today was another busy day. Started out with an early phone call (which immediately makes you think something is wrong). A good friend of ours is in the hospital. So Marc went in to see him this morning before heading to work for a while.

With two boys to care for, we just stayed home, prayed, played and worked. And I got a lot done. It was babyfood making day and I can happily say I now have a nice supply of green beans, squash and pears in my freezer for AJ. (I do have other things already made - I don't make the poor kid live on only 3 foods). He loved the pears and didn't even mind the green beans all that much. Marc then came home early, we got a sitter for a couple hours and both of us headed back down to hospital for a bit.

On a good note, I had our sitter pop in a pan of enchaladas from yesterday in the oven, so dinner was ready for us when we got home. We got tubs done and the house somewhat picked up and now cookies are cooling on the rack. I'm blogging and Ryan is over here playing war video games with Marc. I really need to work on my Bible Study as I am behind and work on Christmas gifts. So I'm out.

Lunch Ponderings

Why is it that when I mix a thick liquid such a honey with another thick liquid such as mustard, what I get a thin drippy mixture for my chicken nuggets?

A lotta enchilada

Hmmm... it's been a busy one and I am pooped. We started out first thing this morning at the grocery store. Which, now that AJ isn't in the carrier - it's like a whole new adventure hauling two kids and diaper bag in and out of a store. We got our goods and headed home for AJ to nap and mama to start cookin'.

Miraculously, Andrew went downstairs and played with his train set for a good stretch, which left me time to work. I got two large pans and two small pans of enchiladas made. Enchaladas is a wonderful meal but so messy and time consuming to make – so when I make them, I make a LOT of them. This took until about noon or so. I got the kids fed and Andrew down for nap. With a cranky AJ, I didn’t get much else done before his nap except prep the enchilada toppings – onion, tomato, lettuce, etc… Once both boys were up we headed out to a friend’s house to give her family a pan of enchiladas with the works.

Back at home, a quick noodles with broccoli & alfredo sauce dinner, a catnap for AJ, a shower for Andrew and a major overhaul cleanup of my kitchen later, I am plopped on the couch. I should be getting the boys in bed, but instead they are both sitting here in just their diapers watching Disney’s “Mickey Twice Upon a Christmas.” We stumbled upon it by accident, but Andrew was immediately mesmerized. I am recording it – so he can finished it tomorrow. I am not going to let him stay up until 9:30 and have a feeling that decision is not going to go over well with him. (But I’m the mom). Marc is gone over to watch Monday Night Football & workout with Ryan. So I will have a night to myself (to pay bills).

On a side note, I bought oranges today at the grocery store. I let AJ taste a bit of the juice and he turned into a junkie. To the point where I would let him just gum a wedge. This even got Andrew interested enough to try a triangle or two of orange. Progress.

I love it when...

...I have to compete with his foot when spoon-feeding AJ to see which gets into his mouth first.

The wonderful world of Flint...

Friday, we decided to pack up and head east to stay with some friends on the other side of the state. They have a little boy Andrew's age, so he was super excited to see "all my friends". We hung out with them, the kids played, us grown ups played "Scene It" (I lost both games) and it was a nice little trip.

They had a rocketship cockpit painted on the bottom of thier coffee table. You climb under and head into space. It even lit up with some real buttons. Pretty cool!

The main reason we decided to head there was a large Christmas village we visited complete with a real train ride. The boys' eyes were wide the entire ride. We even crossed a street and the lights went on, the gate went down and we heard the ding ding ding telling all the cars to wait. You can tell from the pictures - it was cold!

(And yes, the boys have socks on their hands - I forgot their mittens)

A beautiful tree with every branch lit up.

A very fast (to a fault - glad we gave Andrew motion sickness medicine earlier that day) merry go round that Andrew really wanted to ride again.

The boys
Goofy kids.

Do you see you?

Because above is a mommy, a daddy, an AJ and Andrew, a grandma, a papa, a Zach and his two baby brothers and all their friends.

Interesting or Weird?

I've been doing this blogging thing long enough that I now have this post to read with this post.

Eight Months, Baby!

Wow - eight months ago today I was totally planning on heading into work and well...

....surprise!

What I did instead was deliver this beautiful happy boy who fills this house with his smiles!

AJ, you are one happy kid and I pray you stay that way until you only have two teeth left. You've really grown on us. You've discovered Cheerios, though getting them to your mouth is more work than it's worth to you right now. But put them in your baby feeder and you are one happy dude. You also like the HBO Classical Baby Music Show (as does your brother) after your afternoon nap. You are adored by your brother who often forgets that you are not 2 and a half years old like he is. You are sitting well by yourself and you pivot great on your belly. You will occasionally make it to your hands and knees to rock a bit before plopping back down (which scootches you backwards - sometimes under something like the table). You still wake a couple times a night. You are learning the joy of kicking in the tub and the cause/effect relationship of your splashes to mommy's squeals. You adore your daddy. You are still not totally sold on the concept of solid foods although you get better every day. Your favorite word is 'ga' and you love to shout it in every tone and pitch you can create. You are trying to master the motorboat sound and pierce your lips together while spitting. You also do this weird tongue/top lip action and quite funny.



Adam, you are a sweetheart and God totally knew what he was doing when he gave you to us!

Somehow, I think he's lying...

Mom: Andrew, did you put the blue marker in your mouth?

Andrew (innocently): No.

You think it's funny I got talked into climbing under the tree, don't you!

Chop Job

Before my first attempt at cutting my son's hair.

After my first attempt at cutting my son's hair.

Yea, pretty much turned into a straight buzz - don't look too closely around his ears. (I even knicked his left one - *sniff*)

...the ditches remain.

Just a few minutes ago, Marc was outside helping someone whose car was stuck in our yard. Yes, right up in our yard. Past the curb, past the grassy edge, and he completely cleared the sidewalk... right up into our yard. But the lovely thing is, is that this kid kept gassing it trying to get out of our yard (wasn't going to happen without help) so now we have two nice ditches in our yard. Um... Marcky not happy. Anyway, this kid's friends showed up, and between them and Marc, the car is out of our front yard. But the ditches remain.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas